by J. Thorn
“We need to get far enough away from this place that I don’t smell the disgusting reek of the Valk.”
“Hey.”
Loner and Frantic turned as the Cygoa scout came up the path behind them. His white eyes sat encrusted in a face covered in black ash and dried blood. His canteen on his belt, cocked to one side and the cap off.
“Where are you going?”
Frantic started to answer when Loner shot him an icy glare. The little man nodded and took one step back.
“Away from here,” Loner said to the Cygoa scout. “We’re done fighting. We’re going our own way.”
“No, you’re not. Everyone is gathering near Greensboro. You will need to go there and report.”
Loner closed his eyes and drew a deep breath. He hadn’t felt the presence of the Valk in this region of the forest but that didn’t mean they weren’t around. The vermin could crawl out of the cold, dark earth at any moment and that was something worth remembering. As best as he could tell, the Cygoa scout who approached them was alone, possibly a deserter himself.
“We’re not going to Wytheville. Tell whatever general or superior you like. We don’t belong to the Cygoa. We’re going to do what we want to do.”
The warrior put one hand on his hip and turned his head sideways as he raised his sword and aimed the tip at Loner’s face. “You’ll do what I tell you.”
A few birds chirped in the trees and a squirrel could be heard running across the brittle carpet of dried leaves.
“Turn around. We are not coming with you. We are not part of the Cygoa clan.”
The man was on Loner before he realized what was happening. The soldier had put his head down and driven the top of it into Loner’s chest knocking him backwards into a nearby tree. Loner felt the air knocked from his lungs and his arms shot out to break the fall.
“I’m going to leave you bleeding out for the Valk,” the Cygoa warrior said as he sat upon Loner’s chest raining down blows into his face.
Loner heard the man’s voice as stars exploded in his vision, the salty taste of blood now on his lips. He raised his right arm and brought it to his belt but the fists to his face made it nearly impossible for him to do anything but absorb the blows.
And then it stopped.
Loner opened his eyes and stared into those of the Cygoa on top of him. The man didn’t blink, and he brought both hands up to his neck where a crimson trickle came from between his fingers. A second later, the man fell to the right and collapsed in the dirt next to Loner, his dead eyes staring straight ahead.
“If there’s one, there’s probably more.”
Loner sat up, his head fuzzy and his nose pointed in the wrong direction. He smiled at Frantic and shook his head. “Thank you.”
The little man helped Loner to his feet. They spun around, seeing for the first time the dozen or so Cygoa warriors who had surrounded them during the fight. Loner dropped his shoulders and shook his head.
“Go on then,” said Loner. “Kill us. I’m too tired and bloody to fight anymore.”
One of Cygoa walked up and spat on his dead brother’s body. “You did us a favor. None of us want to return to Wytheville. We want to get as far away from the Valk as possible. We were better off in the north. Should never have come south in the first place. And given what just happened here, it’s probably not wise to stay for much longer.”
Frantic looked up at Loner who wiped more blood from his mouth before replying.
“We aren’t going back. Either of us. We are headed north and that’s all I know. I have no allegiance to any leader or clan, and if you believe I must, then put a sword in my chest right now. Otherwise, any of you who wish to join us may do so. I am not a leader of men. I’m not responsible for your safety, your welfare, or your food rations. And you are free to go your own way at any time.”
He picked up his gear and nodded to Frantic. They stumbled twenty feet down the path before Loner turned around to see what the Cygoa soldiers had done. All of them had followed, their swords sheathed and their war hammers on their belts.
“Fine. You have made your choice. I’m heading north and east to get as far from this war as possible. If at any point you believe I’m not heading in the direction you want to go, then go there. I am not compromising or negotiating, or telling you what to do. If you come with me, you follow.”
As Loner and Frantic turned and continued northward on the path, the Cygoa soldiers followed them.
Typical, Loner thought to himself as they made their way through the trees. I mean to head out alone, and I end up in a group anyway. At least these men seem to want the same thing, and maybe that put him in charge now. That would be different. As his gaze drifted north over the slopes and into the thicker forest, he reminded himself not to threaten Frantic with a blade again, and to just put up with his constant talking. The man had just earned far more respect than Loner had given him.
Chapter 11
The torches had been lit. Ruk had given the order before arriving in the Valk’s subterranean labyrinth. Although their eyesight had adjusted to the almost pitch—black darkness of the underground, she preferred to give the children a bit of comfort to ease their transition.
It had been part of her plan, and she honestly couldn’t remember when the abductions had begun. But years later, the stolen children had provided stability for her people and so it was something she carried on despite not completely understanding why.
Ruk passed several groups of warriors who had a carcass hanging from a stalactite in the cave. They were silently skinning and carving the flesh to be saved for later. She continued down the long tunnel that emptied into the underground cavern that had become her sanctuary.
The old tracks remained on the ground and rats ran along them probably as they had done in the olden days. Several of the cars had long since been stripped of any valuable resources that could have been turned into weapons. Now, they had been inhabited by her most powerful and high—ranking lieutenants.
A slow but steady air current pushed through the tunnel toward the surface. Some of the Valk had followed the tracks deeper into the earth, and they extended so far that not even Ruk knew where they ended. She smelled bitter smoke on the air and knew that someone in the clan had been burning plastic again. Ruk couldn’t understand what the old ones did with such a brittle, weak, substance.
A handful of warriors crossed her path at the next intersection. They bowed before her and continued on their way as she stepped up onto the platform that had been erected in front of her car. Ruk leaned her spear against the side and turned to look out upon the dozens of Valk in the room.
“What now?”
Ruk turned to look at her lieutenant. He waited for her command, his eyes turned down out of respect for his leader.
Before she could reply, commotion came from the end of the tunnel leading to the surface. She heard the feet of her soldiers marching toward her platform. The man in front carried a sack while the men on each side carried torches.
“My Mistress,” said the man carrying the sack. “You must see this.”
Ruk noticed that all the activity in the cavern had ceased. Her people had turned to face the platform, to see what the messenger had brought.
“Go on,” she said.
“Here.”
The warrior held both arms out and opened the sack to reveal a severed head. One of the warriors from her clan.
“Yes? There are casualties of war in every battle. What are you showing me?”
The man reached into the sack and grabbed the head by the thin, long, black braided hair on the top of it. He held it up to the sound of whispers and gasps coming from the cavern. When the face rotated around, and she could clearly see it, Ruk paused.
“What happened to this warrior?”
“We don’t know. This was the result of a weapon used by the surface tribes. It removed his face.”
Ruk stood and grabbed the head from her soldier. She held it up, noticing how
a hole had been punched through the man’s face and a larger one had obliterated the back of his head.
“What weapon?”
“We don’t know.”
“What do you mean you don’t know? You were there.”
Ruk looked around at the other warriors, all of whom lowered their heads and shut their mouths.
“Well something did this to him.”
“A gun.”
One of the children stepped forward, too young or stupid to realize that he had not been asked to speak. Ruk bent down and looked into his eyes.
“Go on.”
“A weapon. It’s sends invisible lightning and thunder. All from a hand and coming from a metal tube. It is too fast to dodge or out run.”
“Did you see it?” Ruk asked the child.
“Yes. One moment, the man was standing and fighting. And in the next, his face disappeared.”
Ruk scowled at the warriors who had brought the head to her, none of which had provided an eyewitness account that was as useful as the child’s.
“What clan are you from? Who wielded this weapon, child? Your life will be spared if you answer true.”
“I am of the Cygoa, lady. I was a water carrier for the warband. I don’t know her name, the one who wields the loud fire gun. But, I think she was of the Elk clan. At least she seemed to know Jonah. He’s the man who leads all the T’Yun now. She also has a wolf that seems to follow her.”
A pause filled the cavern and several people on the edges went back to whatever task they had been working on when the soldiers arrived, no longer interested in the drama unfolding before Ruk’s platform.
And so, it leads back to Jonah, once more. The leader of all. The one who must be dealt with. But who is this girl that carries a weapon from the ancient days? Was she a threat greater still? If it was true, though not likely, that a wolf also follows her, then she must be someone special. Someone who would need to be dealt with.
“This will not be tolerated. I want this weapon and this girl. Find her. Bring her. Bring me others who may have witnessed this weapon being used. If such has come to be, we need to act sooner than I had planned.”
“My lady,” said the soldier who had first addressed Ruk. “What is your command?”
She grabbed her spear and stood.
“Sound the war horn. Send our lieutenants to the surface. We march for Galax.”
Chapter 12
Jonah stopped just inside the open gates and scanned the expanse of land in front of him and the road in either direction. The fence that surrounded this strangely flat piece of land seemed to go on forever in both directions, and when he peered to the horizon above what seemed like an endless field of grass he could only vaguely make out the gray outlines of what may be buildings in the distance.
But it was the fence that impressed him. It had to be ten feet tall and appeared to be in much better condition than most that he had seen throughout the wilderness. They’d made these chain—link fences in the ancient days, and many had rusted and collapsed over the centuries — most in fact. The ones he had seen were barely a barrier at all, some posts sticking up from the overgrowth, and a tangle of rusted metal lying on the ground.
That was what he was used to seeing, but this was very different. Though some of the posts and the chain links had worn with age, this formidable barrier still stood. There were no major holes that wildlife could creep through and he didn’t possess a pair of cutters, not like the ones that Nera had carried, so he couldn’t test if the chain was still strong, but he suspected it was.
He frowned, wondering where those cutters had gone. Somebody must have taken them or they were still hidden away in ruins of the old man's house, probably in a box somewhere, under some boards, where nobody would ever find them.
Jonah turned and looked to Solomon and Declan, who stood a dozen yards behind him. He nodded. Seren stood a few yards ahead of him near where the grass began.
“He’ll be fine,” Seren said. “Stop worrying. These people helped me, remember, and they've offered us the use of the city. They didn't have to do that. We just have to confirm it with them, okay?”
Solomon nodded, but Jonah could tell by his friend’s expression that he wasn't pleased about the situation.
“She’s right,” Jonah said. “It’s fine. I’ll be back before the sun is down. I’ll meet you back here in shall we say two hours? Or maybe send a small patrol up here every hour after that. I can’t spend long in here anyway. We have a lot of work to do. I’m hoping we can make a deal with these people quickly. You need to get back and help with defenses and finding places for people to stay, securing buildings. That should be the priority.”
Solomon scoffed and looked off to the horizon, his hands caressing his battle ax. “I know, but if something happened to you, this would all go to shit.”
“It won’t. And even without me you’d find a way.” Then Jonah turned, nodded at Seren, and started forward, keeping to the middle of the road which cut through the tall grasses.
The two walked side by side in silence along the road for about a quarter of mile before Jonah spoke again. “You know, they could graze countless animals on this land.” He then shifted his gaze to the horizon, starting to make out more distinct shapes of the distant buildings.
“It’s huge,” said Seren. “I’m not really sure if they use it for anything. Not this area anyway. It's too close to the ruins where someone would see it. This way, it just looks like a derelict yard.”
“A very big derelict yard.” He remembered the huge greenhouses that Seren had mentioned. Where were they? How such things could be hidden was beyond him. And what else was concealed here? Jonah glanced in Seren’s direction, wondering if there were things that she had been shown when she was last here that she hadn't mentioned to him, secrets that she was still keeping from him. He didn't think so, at least not important ones.
They walked in silence for a while as the buildings drew closer.
“That one,” Seren indicated.
Jonah looked in the direction she was pointing. It was a square building, much smaller than some of those in the distance. He'd expected her to take him to one of the larger buildings that were like overturned half—barrels with massive metal doors. This was not what he’d envisioned. The building was a squat one, and sturdy—looking, made of what the ancients had called concrete. It was covered in creeping plants like much of the city and appeared to be the least well—preserved building on the strange base.
Maybe that was a part of the disguise? He thought. But then why would they even need it? The ruins of the base were hidden in a city that was so far away from anywhere and everything else.
Outside the open doors of the building stood a dozen figures, several of them heavily armored and carrying weapons that were not like anything Jonah had ever seen. Seren had shown him what her gun could do, hell, everyone had seen what it could do. But he had never examined the thing, preferring to hand it back as though it were some object of witchery, something unholy. She had explained that the people in the base held much more powerful guns than hers, and now he understood what she meant.
Of the dozen people standing around the entrance, eight of them carried what looked like a larger version of the gun Seren carried. These seemed to be of a type that would be held in two hands rather than one. They could not be so easily concealed.
He'd seen rifles and shotguns before, of course. They were numerous in the ruins and often still used as weapons, but not in the fashion that Seren's worked. Often, they were so old and worn that you could barely make out their original shape, they had a blade attached to them, and were used as a makeshift spear or a club. He suspected that few, if any, of them would function even if they did have what Seren called ammo.
As they approached the bottom of the steps, the shortest of the people who had gathered there stepped forward. She was an older woman, maybe as old as Leta, and had dark hair with silver streaks.
“You must be Jonah,
” she said, smiling.
Jonah climbed the steps with Seren and stood in front of the woman.
“I am.” He bowed before her. “You must be Katrina.”
“I am, indeed. I am what you would call chief in this clan, though we have a different name for it. Seren here has visited with us before, as you must know, and has spoken much of you.”
“All good. I hope.”
“Of course. Anyway, you must have much to do with your people coming to the city. There are, quite a number of them from what we’ve seen.”
“Yeah, it’s chaos out there at the moment,” said Jonah, trying not to frown.
He still couldn’t quite comprehend what Seren had described when it came to the boxes attached to the walls of the old buildings. She’d pointed one out and tried to describe what it was the thing did, but it was still a concept that was alien to him.
“I wanted to meet you in person.” Katrina looked over her shoulder and those with weapons lowered them. Slightly. “So that I could get a picture of this leader Seren has spoken of, and if I am honest, to get an idea of what your clan folk are like.”
Jonah nodded. “I understand. It must be unnerving to have us turn up on your territory, and I promise you that we will do our best not to disrupt your lives too much. We are very grateful you have allowed us to come here. Our situation was, and still is, worrying.”
“Yes. Seren has explained much of it to us already. We are concerned about what troubles have followed you here, but maybe we can be of assistance in dealing with them. But right now, I need your agreement on something.”
Jonah shifted his weight to one foot, stealing a quick glance at Seren who looked him square in the eye. She’s good, the girl’s look said. But he still had concerns. What were their demands for allowing his people into the city?
“We have remained somewhat isolated here over the years. This place is well hidden, and we’d prefer to keep it that way, though with your arrival and that of your enemies following, it seems unlikely. But what we must insist on is your people stay out of the subways, the underground places. You will find the entrances to them dotted around the streets here and there, and sometimes in some of the buildings, access points that lead to stairs that lead down to subterranean passageways. Our defenses cover much under the city and they will be hostile to anyone that goes down there.”
